Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Rating: M

Score: 9.0/10

                It's a well known fact World War-based shooters are everywhere. There are few companies that can keep the routine fresh, but Infinity Ward is very notable.  A sequel a year later- Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the direct sequel to Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. They just spontaneously dropped the 4, so I guess they weren't too eager to have multiple numbers in one title as Left 4 Dead 2. The main question is: How do you make a worthy successor to a game that sold more than 3 million copies for the Xbox 360 alone? Well, just point at Modern Warfare 2 and say "pretty much that". This game is available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC

                Call Of Duty 4 is a game loved by gamers everywhere. It was even a nominee for my "favourite games" list, despite the fact I'm not a huge fan of World War shooters. It did something drastic: it was...ORIGINAL! Yeah, remember that? The long forgotten aspect of video games that haunts most newer games and punishes the ones that dare to push the envelope. It wasn't another throwaway title of World War 2 shooters, it was modern and wasn't restricted to the old guns and plotlines, it had its own stand-alone idea and plots. Everything in it was polished several times over, with next-to-perfect shadowing, lighting, mood, and thrilling plot twists and moments. It's no wonder it's so popular; it'd be tragic if it wasn't (although worse things have happened).

                The game starts off the same way as before: you start training exercises to prove your skills, choose a difficulty option (and choose gingerly), then you jump right into the action, bouncing from character to character and plot points and twists. Some twists are quite similar to its predecessor, which knocks off the originality aspect a bit. There was one twist in particular that was completely out of the blue and quite surprising, but I remain unaffected because it was almost exactly like a twist used before in Call Of Duty 4, so I didn't feel obliged  to react a second time for the same thing.

                The gameplay remains more or less the same, with a few new additions. One cool new aspect is the ability to dual wield. I find it a bit ironic that Halo's (a very popular first-person shooter) newest game, OSDT, dropped their dual wielding while Call Of Duty's (another very popular first-person shooter) newest game, Modern Warfare 2, added dual wielding. Coincidence? Probably.

                You also have new equipment to play with. I could spend this whole column explaining all of them, so I'll just name a few. The Riot Shield is excellent for becoming a virtual juggernaut, protecting you from explosions, gun fire, and knives, even when not selected! You can use missiles, which is pretty cheap...pretty much all the time, being able to kill at least ONE person each time you use it, but usually end up killing three or four in a single missile. You also can have shotguns as a normal secondary. Now wait a minute, a shotgun? A small, pump shotgun or something might be acceptable, but a fully automatic shotgun along with a high-powered assault rifle? Why? Did we not have enough fire power before?

                The multiplayer was a huge part of Call Of Duty 4, so of course it's a huge part of Modern Warfare 2. The multiplayer has its ups and downs, much like before. There are some moments where you wonder why anyone would put such a cheap weapon in a game. There are other moments where you wonder if the multiplayer could be any more complete. From getting destroyed by a camping (someone who stays at one place for quite a while, waiting for people to cross their path) person dual wielding two sawed-off shotguns, to single-handedly taking down every person on the other team and scoring the winning kill, you'll probably end up having more fun than you'd think.

                There's no sense beating a dead horse. If you like first-person shooting game, you already have this game, plain and simple. If you enjoy first-person shooters, or have at least some interest in them, it's one of the better ones you'll find out there. If you can ignore the small flaws, you'll see it's truly of rare high-quality.